Home Minister Amit Shah is on a two-day visit to Assam. (PTI)
Home Minister Amit Shah, who is in Assam on a two-day visit, will attend a meeting of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance today. This is the first meet of the northeastern allies of the BJP since the citizens' list to identify illegal immigrants in the state was released last month. The National Register of Citizens or NRC had left out over 19 lakh people.
At last year's meeting of the group at New Delhi, Mr Shah had given a call for a "Congress Mukt northeast (Congress-free northeast)". Today's meeting is likely to take up what's next for the BJP and its allies given that there are differences overs several issues including the contentious citizens' bill.
Yesterday, Mr Shah, who is also the BJP chief, said the centre will throw "every single illegal immigrant out" of the country. He also said that the government has no intention of altering or scrapping Article 371 of the Constitution, which grants special privileges to the northeastern states.
Amit Shah's Assam, visit - his first since becoming Home Minister - was preceded by the state government declaring Assam a "Disturbed Area" under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958.
The North East Democratic Alliance or NEDA is a BJP-led coalition of non-Congress regional parties of the north eastern region formed in 2016.
While the BJP has its own government in Arunachal Pradesh, it leads the alliance govenrments in Tripura, Assam and Manipur.
The BJP is ruling in Assam in alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad and the Bodoland Peoples Front.
The northeast alliance members are in power in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.